The title is pretty self explanatory. I want to start a little blog, nothing ambitious just a pretty little place to talk about all of the stuff that I love. I really want it more for myself than anything else but I am clueless as to where to start, how to start a first post and how to get people to read (even if it is only a few people!)

i think the main thing is finding a (free) platform that you like, and then just start writing! i used typepad for awhile (years and years) and then decided it was dumb to pay for something every month when i didn't have to (especially because i tend to blog a little sporadically)... so i recently switched to wordpress. i like it a lot. there is also blogger, which is popular with some peeps.

once you have it set up and start writing, you can just publicize it here and there (depending on how widely you want to advertise yourself, ha ha). for instance, each time you create a new blog post, you can post a link to your new entry on places like twitter or facebook, just to keep it in front of people. several blogging platforms actually make it pretty easy to do this, so yay. and you can put a link to your blog's homepage in your sig file here, for starters, so people know that you have one and are more likely to take a peek. or, if you don't want it in your sig file, you can just put the link in your member profile.

hope that helps a little!

_________________i'm not around much, but that doesn't mean i don't love you.

I have a blogspot and a tumblr. Both are free, I also started a Facebook page so people Gould like it and then be linked to the blog(s). I have way more followers on Facebook, I think about 120 now and I dont even really post all that much.

Thanks for the advice. I like the look of blogger and I already have a tumblr (so addictive) so I guess I just need to write. Truthfully I don't even know what I want my blog to be about yet but I think I might just go for it and see where it ends up. I mean I have a general idea but I am not really sure how to execute it!

The title is pretty self explanatory. I want to start a little blog, nothing ambitious just a pretty little place to talk about all of the stuff that I love. I really want it more for myself than anything else but I am clueless as to where to start, how to start a first post and how to get people to read (even if it is only a few people!)

So, my lovely PPKers, help me out?

Yes.you can create a blog using the http://www.thewebpole.com/ .Here i found a quick blog cast tool which helps to create a blog..You can use this and create it ..

I have a blog (self-hosted WordPress) which is more about art & illustration than vegan food (although I do post the occasional recipe). I've been blogging on & off since 2007, & for me, it's not just something I really do love doing, it's also a marketing vehicle for my business, so building up my traffic & readership has been very important to me.

I suggest Blogger if you want to use a free, hosted platform, as it ranks higher on Google than the others (since Google owns it!). That's one way to draw traffic to your blog. There are lots of free templates available because it's such a popular platform, so it won't be hard for you to prettify it.

My advice is to not go crazy adding too many third-party widgets to your sidebar, as that really slows down the loading time & deters visitors. I also recommend you do have some focus (although there's no need to be too rigid!) & make sure you post lots of colourful photos to engage your readers. Use FeedBurner for your blog feed, so that if you ever move to a different platform you can migrate your subscribers over (I did that from TypePad to WordPress) & if you want to start sending out newsletters at some stage, MailChimp has a great free plan & fantastic analytics.

In my opinion, if you're going to start blogging, you have to have a passion for it. If you're just going through the motions & struggling to come up with original content, or if your blog is too heavily self-promotional, your readers will pick up on that. Sincerity & enthusiasm are key.

Hows the blog going? it's actually pretty easy to start one, even if you dont have money to do it. You can always hop on to blogger.com or wordpress.com and they will give you a free blog. Once you have a little money to invest you can then look into buying a domain name for your blog. Once you start having some content on your blog its possible that advertisers can approach you and want to buy an ad on your blog.

Wordpress.org (not Wordpress.com which is like blogger) looks a lot more pro than blogger, but the learning curve for customizing it is hard! I'm still figurin' it out myself. But the best looking template blogs I've seen have been with wordpress.

_________________"...it doesn't matter if you can't play a note, it's how you communicate."Siobhan Fahey